AI is Paramount for Military Dominance, Sea Service Leaders Say

Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems play a critical role in maintaining military superiority for the Defense Department, officials said Monday at Sea-Air-Space in National Harbor, Maryland.

“The way the Navy has gotten after this is really recognizing that AI is like electricity. It’s ubiquitous,” Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus said. “Its use cases can be applied across so many different domains, from warfighting to our readiness piece to the business of how we operate.”

Maj. Gen. Farrell Sullivan, director of the Marine Corps’ Capabilities Development Directorate and Department of Combat Development and Integration, said he is interested in AI after completing an inventory of USMC AI use and looking for ways “integrate into these platforms and give them more power.”

“We have a sense of urgency to get after it,” he added.

Sullivan also outlined a future with AI and autonomous systems augmenting humans in the theater, providing huge potential improvements in lethality. Warfare is “very human at the end of the day,” he said, but technology has always been a part of war.

“Human-led operations and maneuvers are going to be massively augmented by AI,” Sullivan said, “What is autonomy going to do? It’s going to give a fire-team size element to combat power of a battalion size element.”

Coast Guard Deputy CIO and Chief Data and AI Officer Brian Campo said that AI is important in USCG missions like interdiction, marine safety and other data-intensive missions.

“What we’ve got to do place autonomous systems in places where we get the data from them,” said Campo. “[We need AI and autonomous projects] where they can pick up data and where they can interact in a way that expands the capability of the service members, bringing us into rapidly expanding capabilities.”

Echoing Sullivan’s point on augmentation, Campo said that autonomous sensors and other technology can expand USCG maritime domain capabilities. The Coast Guard is still early on its AI and autonomous journey, but Campo said his office is asking important questions.

“It doesn’t necessarily fit for us to put a cutter in every single place where we need to collect data,” said Campo. “Where are the autonomous systems? How quickly can we build them? How can we use them as an augmentation to work?”

Campo said that working with data is critical to USCG’s expansion of AI and autonomous systems. He said that his office is expanding “a better use of data” that these systems can provide and analyze.

“A lot of that is just being able to understand the data we have, the data we need and where and how we want the data for that,” Campo said. “When you bring those together into a total platform, what you start to get is something that greatly enhances all of the operations.”

Sea services, officials said, are eager to enact governance to boost these systems. Rothenhaus said that the military services can glean much from collaboration with industry, academia and one another.

“We want to learn, not only just the kit, we also want to understand how you approach problem solving, how you’re applying it in the commercial sector as much as we can,” Rothenhaus said. “It’s not only about the equipment, but it’s also about the process. It’s about the approach. It’s about the mental model they use to move quickly and rapidly integrate. Our fleet commanders are hungry for the capability.”

Despite the challenges, Sullivan expressed optimism about the development of AI and autonomous systems for the sea services.

“We need better software pipelines. We need better training mechanisms, and we need better algorithms,” Sullivan said. “The future is bright and I think we’re moving in the right direction.”